Golden Knight Dave Taylor honored as one of ECAC Hockey All-Time Top 50

Wednesday, January 5, 2011 - 4:53 pm

POTSDAM -- As part of its 50th anniversary celebration, ECAC Hockey has picked its top 50 players, Clarkson University's Dave Taylor among them, to illustrate the storied history of the league and honor its significant players.

Taylor, a Golden Knight from 1973 to 1977, is all-time leading scorer among Clarkson varsity skaters.

After his career in Potsdam, Taylor went west to play 17 stellar seasons with the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League.

The top 50 ECAC players were determined by a selection committee made up of former coaches and media members.

Taylor, from Levack, Ont., was a 1977 All-America pick at forward, and 1977 ECAC Hockey Player of Year.

He tops the Knights' record book with 153 assists and 251 total career points. He led ECAC scoring in 1977 with 41 goals and 108 points in 34 games. He is one of only three players in ECAC's 50-year history to score more than 100 points in a season. He was a Knights co-captain, and was chosen as Clarkson's MVP in 1974, 1976 and 1977.

He was the first player in NHL history to win top NHL awards in one season, claiming the 1991 Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, for perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey, and the King Clancy Memorial Trophy, for leadership on and off ice as well as contributions to the community.

He was in the first class of Clarkson Athletic Hall of Fame inductees, in 1992.

After he hung up his skates, Taylor worked in the front office for the Kings for several years. He is now the St. Louis Blues Director of Player Personnel.

The top 50 players were chosen by a vote of a selection committee of 10 individuals, Joe Bertagna, former student-athlete at Harvard, former hockey commissioner of the ECAC and current commissioner of Hockey East; Ed Carpenter, former Sports Information Director at Boston U.; Bill Cleary, former student-athlete, head coach and director of athletics at Harvard; John Connolly, long-time sports reporter at the Boston Herald; Dan Fridgen, former student-athlete at Colgate and former head coach at RPI; Mike Gilligan, former head coach at Yale (interim) and Vermont; Lou Lamoriello, former student-athlete and head coach at Providence and current CEO/President/General Manager of the New Jersey Devils; Tim Taylor, former student-athlete at Harvard and former head coach at Yale; Adam Wodon, editor of the College Hockey News Web site; and Mark Morris, former student-athlete at Colgate and former head coach at Clarkson.